Archives For Personal_Development

Good afternoon! I am running behind on my posting as we have traveled South for my nephew’s wedding leaving little time for writing.

Question – what do you want to “look” like ten years from now? What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to be known for? I know that you realize that the decisions you are making today effect that future you, but even with that knowledge, are you actually making decisions with the future in mind? For most of us the answer, unfortunately, is no.

The key is after you take the assessment – what are you going to do with the information? What you do with what you learn about yourself (not just this assessment, but in any situation) is key to whether you will continue to grow or if you stagnate.

Share this:

Like this:

As a leader, you are on a path of continuous growth and we need the input of others to develop well.

One of those people who can provide you valuable input is your boss. I am not talking about an evaluation sort of thing, but of you being intentional and going to your boss and asking him or her some very specific questions about some key aspects of your role.

Like this:

Well, it is a beautiful morning here in southwest Michigan and it has been a great weekend with my family. Having made some changes in my life, I have found greater fulfillment and, even more importantly, my family is healthier and stronger. More of my weekends are now centered on my family and other key relationships. I have changed many of my life management habits and have grown stronger as a result.

Greg Salciccioli talks about this in chapter 4 of his book, The Enemies of Excellence, 7 Reasons Why We Sabotage Success. In chapter 4 Greg talks about how bad life management habits often derail so many leaders. I know that to be true for myself. While I wasn’t “derailed”, I was much less effective, less fulfilled and frustrating my family. I made changes which were hard at first, but have been some of the best decisions I have made yet.

Following are seven best practices Greg has identified – see which ones you might need to incorporate into your life:

Establish work boundaries.

Schedule vacations and personal planning times a year in advance.

Invest mornings in uninterrupted, high-priority activity.

Engage in daily exercise, providing emotional and mental relief as well as energy replenishment.

Use the afternoons for management, including meetings, phone calls, and e-mail.

Guard evenings and weekends for relationship connection and peraonal enjoyment.

Invest in outside insight from mentors, coaches, and trainers focusing on personal and professional growth.

Personally, I have greatly benefitted from implementing many of these practices into my own life and my life and that of my family is much richer as a result.

Greg has coached leaders for years now and has discerned seven common things that lead to sabotaging leaders in their journey. The seven Enemies of Success as defined by Greg are:

1. Egotism

2. Life Mismanagement

3. Bad Habits

4. Indulgence

5. Broken Relationships

6. Isolation

7. Self-Sabotage

This is an excellent book and I would recommend you picking it up to see how Greg explains how these seven “enemies” impact us as leaders. Also, you can go to his site, coachgreg.com and download tools from the book.

Leading by example – I am sure you have heard that and probably often said it. The question for all of us – are we actually living it? Or do we sometimes feel that because of our position we somehow are exempt from the “rules”.

Another question – do we really know what our values are and do we actually live by them?

Mark goes on to quote Albert Einstein who says, “The significant problems we face in life cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

Taking time to STOP and actually think for an extended period of time is a critical leadership discipline and one of the most neglected of the leadership disciplines. It seems we live our lives reacting to our e-mail, texts, daily tasks, and etc. to the point that we are constantly living at the operational or survival level in our jobs instead of at the proactive conceptual or strategic level.

And short-sighted decisions or living produces short-sighted results.

So, consider instituting the leadership discipline of “disciplined, uninterrupted thinking” into your life. It will be hard, in fact very hard, at first, but the results will be transformational.

Sign up to follow my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

about me

Creative strategist. People developer. Leader developer.

My focus is strengthening leader and organizational health.

Drawing on experience and skills developed as an officer in the US Army, in the defense industry, manufacturing, as an adjunct professor of management, and in the non-profit sector to help people grow.

Recommendations

“I had the honor and privilege of working for BG in the early years of my professional career. Recently I took a leadership class based on John Maxwell’s principles. We were first asked for a list of people who most influenced you as a leader, BG was on my list. Through every chapter and lesson I could always point to him as a person that exhibited those special qualities Maxwell referred to. BG provided me with a solid foundation for many of the principles I live by today. From him I learned about integrity both in the workplace and at home. He shared many leadership qualities and lessons that, over the years, have helped forge my success. He is a kind and giving person who gives far more than he ever receives here.”